Thursday, January 10, 2008

Barack Obama Helping Kenya Resolve Violence

Turns out that New Hampshire and Iowa were not the only areas on Obama's radar this week. In addition to working to win the primary in Iowa and place a close second in New Hampshire, Senator Barack Obama was also on the phone lines in Kenya dealing with the violence and turmoil in the country after recent elections.

Obama's father is from Kenya and he still has family there. Obama reached out to contact Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga by telephone and also hoped that he would have the chance to speak with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.

Although Kibaki was declared the winner of the election, allegations of vote-rigging have marred the election results. The allegations have come from both inside Kenya and in the international community. As a result of the election problems, Kenya has been marred by violence, leaving hundreds dead and tens of thousands homeless.

International mediators are working to broker a settlement, but Odinga has said that he would not attend an unmediated meeting with Kibaki.

In response to Odinga's allegations, Obama had this to say: "Obviously, he believes that the votes were not tallied properly. But what I urged was that all the leaders there, regardless of their position on the election, tell their supporters to stand down, to desist with the violence and resolve it in a peaceful way in accordance with Kenyan law," Obama said.

Obama also taped a radio message to the Kenyan people urging that they be calm. His advisors said that he consulted with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and The Arch Bishop Desmond Tuto.